A group of officials tasked with developing a governance model for a new airport that will replace Friedman Memorial met for the first time Wednesday afternoon at Sun Valley City Hall.
The "blue-ribbon" commission of local city and county officials, headed by Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman, included Carey City Councilwoman Vonnie Olson, Bellevue Administrator Tom Blanchard, Hailey City Councilwoman Martha Burke, Ketchum City Councilman Charles Conn and Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich.
The County Commission named the officials to the panel on Tuesday.
Wednesday's discussion was primarily concerned with giving the officials a rundown on the history of the current airport in Hailey and how the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority came into being to oversee operations at the county- and Hailey-owned facility.
The panel will eventually make a recommendation to the County Commission for the makeup of a new airport authority to oversee operations at the new airport, the sites for which the Federal Aviation Administration is currently considering.
Bowman said the group of officials will likely meet about once a month in an attempt to come up with a governance model within six months. He said it may take some time to bring all the officials up to speed before they can begin to get down to the task of designing that structure.
"The next meeting will be another informational meeting," he said.
Bowman said the county chose to have the local jurisdictions make the recommendation to give everyone a voice in the decisions.
"We want to reach out to the other jurisdictions," he said.
However, unlike Friedman Memorial, the new airport will be run solely by the county.
Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com
